We thank Tomaž Erjavec for helping us with the Slovene language, and Helen Salak for providing us with knowledge about Farsi. We also want to thank Carlo Ferigato who introduced us to various fuzzy matching techniques.
(But I wouldn’t consult an academic.We thank the whole team of the Web Technology sector at the JRC for providing us with the valuable news data to test the tools, as well as for their technical support. I personally would go for Andrei, but I suspect that in view of the recent unfathomable metamorphosis of Kiev into Kyiv, ‘y’ is the flavour of the month with anglophone media, in which case you might prefer Andrey. Ludwig XIV, or Heinrich V von Shakespeare - it is unusual (in Britain at least) except in exceptional circumstances (e.g. Although a similar practice is standard with German - e.g. In this case, one might suggest Andrew, or Andy or even the Scottish Drew. Although there seems to have been a conspiracy to inflict an unbelievable non-English combination of vowels and consonants on English speakers for names in a language almost none of us speaks - Li Xiannian or Hu Qiaomu anyone? - many individuals with such names sojourning in the West have taken the more practical and time-honoured measure of adopting English names (especially if they are trying to sell you something). It might, however, seem better suited to a concert pianist than, say, a heavyweight boxer.Īnglicization. If it is a diphthong, on the other hand, the French, André, might be acceptable as it fairly well known in the English-speaking world (e.g.
#RUSSIAN TRANSLITERATION OF NAMES HOW TO#
However that would be rather academic, French rather than English in style, and I suspect ordinary people know how to pronounce Noël and Zoë because they have heard it spoken, rather than because they understand the function of the diaresis symbol. If the e and i or e and y are separate vowels, rather than a diphthong - the poster gives no indication whether this is so, so I feel quite at liberty to assume that this is a possibility - then one could use Andreï, for example. Andrey could be English - change the ‘n’ to ‘u’ and you get ‘Audrey’ (although wrong sex) - but not Andrei or Andrej. Most of these editions retrieved were relatively modern, however and do not speak to historical practice.Īppearance and Pronounceability. As far as I can see from internet searches both Andrei and Andrey Sergeyevich Prozorov are characters in Chekov’s Three Sisters, it is generally Andrei Semyonovich Lebezyatnikov in Dostoyevsky’s Crime and Punishment, but both Andrei and Andrey Gavrilovich Dubrovsky in Putshkin’s The Queen of Spades. Another touchstone is the spelling in Russian works of literature in translation. Those my age will remember the newspaper spelling used in the 1980s for the Soviet dissident Andrei Sakharov. My impression is that the spelling Andrei is probably of greater and longer usage. Whether or not they were party to the choice, the sports clubs in question used different versions to publicize their acquisitions: Andrey Arshavin the former Arsenal footballer, and Andrei Kirilenko, the former NBA basketball player. Although not relevant in this case, I came across two cases of elite Russian sportsmen who work or worked for a period in Britain or the US. If the individual thinks a correct pronunciation is important but impossible to achieve he may wish to translate the name into its English equivalent.Īpplying these to the Andrey/Andrei question: If the name is unfamiliar and correct pronunciation is important for some reason, pronunciation aids such as diaresis marks may be an option.Īnglicization. If the name is not generally familiar to English speakers, a spelling is to be preferred that an English speaker can attempt a pronunciation of, even if it is the incorrect pronunciation in the original language. If the name, despite being foreign, has a long history of a predominant spelling in English, this should be used as it will be familiar to readers.Īppearance and Pronounceability. If the individual has a physical or literary presence in an English speaking country and elects for a particular Roman spelling, this should be respected. Let me list them (more or less in order of priority) before trying to apply them to the current case. I know little about any of these languages, but as this is an English Language site I feel this puts me in a good position to suggest general principles on which to decide this and similar questions. This is the second recent question about Romanizing proper names from languages that use the Cyrillic alphabet.
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